Child care errors must be cut

18th June 2009

The National Patient Safety Agency says the NHS must cut down on the number of errors made while treating children.

The safety watchdog says last year there were more than 70 deaths and 20,000 cases of harm in which a lapse in care contributed. It believes the figures for the under 18s are too high and standards need to improve. Mistakes made with medication were the most common errors after being cited in 16% of cases, particularly with child doses not always being available but other mistakes were made in hospital transfer and discharge.